User blog:BoatsAreRockable/Breathing new life into the Theatre Wiki?
I recently discovered this wiki and was saddened to see that is rather neglected. I am a big fan of theatre (particularly musicals) and believe that this wiki has loads of potential to be "something incredible" (Yeah a BOM reference...). As a result I would like to propose a major reorganisation to this wiki and I would like to eventually be able to adopt this wiki. ' While there doesn't seem to be any active community here I thought it would be helpful to others and myself to highlight how I would like to improve this wiki. 'Focus on the shows From browsing the wiki's existing pages and categories the biggest problem I see with the wiki right now is that it lacks focus. While the majority of pages are about various different plays and musicals, there are also a fair few pages on performers, creative team members, songs, theatre locations and theatre companies. These other pages are for the most part direct copies of their counterparts on Wikipedia and as a result serve little purpose. I think it would be best if all pages that are not about a specific play or musical are deleted. Branching out into pages about other theatre related topics would possibly be considered in the future but only after most show pages were up to a decent standard. My long term aim for this wiki is for it to have a page on every notable theatre production performed ever. 'Making into a 'hub' wiki' The remaining 'show' pages would keep their current content relating to the key people in the show, the synopsis and links to reviews but there would be in addition (where applicable) a listing of the show's musical numbers, a listing of the awards the show has one, where and if it is currently showing, an RSS feed of recent news about the show and ' a large link encouraging visitors to visit the Wikia relating to the show.' This would be the 'hub' element of my proposal for reorganising this wiki, where this wiki would strive to give basic information about as many shows as possible with the individual Wikis/Wikias about each show being the place to learn even more. 'Blog posts featuring shows' To encourage engagement there I would start (and eventually with the help of others) a series of blog posts that would showcase individual shows on a weekly basis. This would be a mixture of large and small productions and old and new ones. 'Forums and chat' I'd also like to create a community here. If I was given administrator rights I would enable Wikia's chat and forum plugins and make sure the Theatre Wiki had formal policies that were developed by the community for the community. Most decisions regarding the wiki would be done by community votes. 'Visual overhaul' Right now the Theatre Wiki has a pretty plain appearance and its main page looks like those from 2008. I am experienced with CSS working extensively on the look of the Brickfilms Wiki and as a result would give this place a new and distinctive look if I were given administrator rights. Customs infoboxes would also be added to most pages. Finally If anybody does find themselves reading this I would very much welcome your feedback and thoughts on the various ideas I've suggested above. Otherwise I will very shortly begin to work towards the things above and I would welcome support in my wish to adopt this wiki. Category:Blog posts